"In this new release for Harmonia Mundi, German baritone Matthias Goerne presents us with two gems of Bach’s cantata repertoire, with the texts of both BWV 56 and 82 exploring one’s sense of hope in death. Goerne adeptly interprets the paradoxical combination of hope and despair that underpins these works, deploying a graceful lyricism alongside a richer, darker bass register. ...

"This website and book are devoted to everybody interested in Musical Temperament: performers of all Western musical instruments, singers, keyboard tuners, instrument makers, students and music lovers. ...

"After 27 years of spirited and exuberant performances, Musica Pacifica will see a “changing of the guard,” as Elizabeth Blumenstock, one of the ensemble's founding members, has announced her retirement from the group. ...

"In 1660, the stage designer Gaspare Vigarani came into an unexpected windfall. The Louvre was expanding, and the Grande Salle du Petit-Bourbon—a massive theater that had housed operas, plays, and ballets for nearly a century—was being destroyed to make room. Vigarani was told to grab everything he could from backstage and move it to his own theater, the Salles de Machines, which was then under construction. ...

"The most interesting thing about Herzog and De Meuron’s newly opened concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie, isn’t its wave-like facade, which rises above the city of Hamburg, Germany. It’s not the gently curved elevator at the base of the lobby that deposits you into the belly of the Swiss architects’ alien landscape. And it’s not the Escher-esque stairways that guide you from one floor to the next.

Though Hamburg’s $843 million philharmonic is filled with stunning architectural gems, its most interesting feature is the central auditorium, a gleaming ivory cave built from 10,000 unique acoustic panels that ...

"This book brings together 23 contributions relating to string orchestras, but also to strings in orchestras, under the reign of Louis XIV. With the center, Versailles practices: the tyrant had paid little attention to the expense to impress the world and erect to the and his royalty, in fact already declining and for this reason, an outstanding monument, including music. Versailles was a reference - certainly partly phantasmagoric - to the princes of the whole earth, even to those who never showed their majesty or the tip of their noses. ...

Venice was a major centre of music and culture in its own right. It was also the centre from which musicians, their music, and the instruments they played were exported and imported all over Europe. We may not be able to turn the River Cam into the Grand Canal, but over these two weeks we guarantee to evoke the musical culture of this most remarkable of cities in its heyday! ...

"2017 marks the coming of age of the much loved Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival, (Friday 26 – Monday 29 May) as the Festival celebrates its thirty years of music-making alongside an extraordinary year for culture in the region, as Hull is 2017 City of Culture.

Initiated by the local authority, with the aim of attracting visitors to the area to discover a rich medley of history, striking architecture and music of the past, over the years the Festival has grown to be recognised as a ‘jewel in the cultural crown’ of the region, attracting internationally renowned performers of early music to appear in a programme alongside emerging youth ensembles and engaging community projects. ...

From both sides of the Atlantic, the month of March celebrates early music in a big way.

"Early Music Month of March 2017", promoted in North America by Early Music America (EMA) is "designed to raise awareness of early music throughout the North American music community. Early Music Month seeks to connect enthusiasts, performers, presenters, scholars, builders, students, venues, and more to bring early music to its widest audience ever."

Opting for a more specific day, "European Early Music Day 2017 - 21st of March" promoted in Europe by the Réseau Européen de Musique Ancienne - European Early Music Network (REMA) "is held every year on 21st March, a day celebrating the beginning of spring, and the birthday of Early Music’s period probably most relevant and known composers: Johann Sebastian Bach (born on 21st March 1685, according to the Julian Calendar)."

"These productions began life a few years apart in Drottningholm before double-bill revivals at the Dutch National Opera and La Monnaie in Brussels. Pierre Audi’s post-Baroque stagings are often astutely deliberate in pacing and action, and are designed simply but artfully (beautiful 18th-century-style costumes, economical lighting, use of mechanical stage flats). At their best, they function as compellingly psychological dramas reminiscent of tragedies by Shakespeare and Racine. ...

"In spite of the immense success he enjoyed in his lifetime, Sigismund Neukomm (born in Salzburg in 1778, died in Paris in 1858 at the age of eighty) is practically forgotten nowadays. Yet he left a catalogue of nearly two thousand works, including fifty masses and a number of oratorios and motets. ...

"For "WFMT welcomes GRAMMY-nominated lutenist, Ronn McFarlane to Impromptu. He and fellow all-star veteran of the lute, Paul O’Dette, perform[ed]virtuoso duets from Elizabethan Italy and England at the University of Chicago on January 8."

"An Interview by Tom Bickley, Compact Disc Reviews Editor, with members of the Flanders Recorder Quartet for their approaching 30th Anniversary and Final Tour

Since being founded in 1987, the Flanders Recorder Quartet (FRQ) has evolved into one of the world ’s top ensembles.Their success in 1990 at the prestigious Musica Antiqua competition in Bruges (Belgium), organized by the Flanders Festival, was the start of an extensive concert career. ...

"“Boston is a music city, look at how many music schools are here and at the number of people purchasing concert tickets,” says Steve Morse, a Globe staff critic from the 1970s through the 2000s. “There should be much more coverage.” ...

From a recent newsletter, the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras announce their upcoming confirmed tour dates and suggest to monitor their website and social media pages for updates.

Monteverdi 450
April - October 2017

An international cast of soloists, together with members of the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, will celebrate the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi's birth by performing his Vespers and surviving trilogy of operas: L’Orfeo, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and L’incoronazione di Poppea, across Europe and the USA. ...

"The Dunedin Consort continues to dominate the 'Best Of' lists that are so popular at year end. Here are just some of the accolades the brilliant Christmas Oratorio collected: 2016 Best Classical Christmas Releases - The Observer ; The Year's Best Seasonal Releases - The Arts Desk: Notable Performances and Recordings of 2016 - The New Yorker ; Top 100 Discs Of The Year 2016 - Presto Classical; One Of The Albums For Christmas - Berliner Zeitung. ...

News from Ut Orpheus Edizioni that the most recent issue of Ad Parnassum Journal is now available.

The contents of this issue:

EDITORIAL
Massimiliano Sala
A New Network on Music Criticism

ARTICLES
Michael Talbot
Robert Valentine and the Roman Concerto Grosso
Joshua S. Walden
«Novelty, Wit and an Abundance of Ideas»: The Mid-Eighteenth-Century German Instrumental Cadenza as Interpretation ...

"The National Centre for Early Music (NCEM) announces the launch of its free online early music artist directory.

The directory contains a comprehensive list of early music artists and ensembles working across the UK. It is presented alphabetically, across specialist periods including: Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical and also by style including: vocal, instrumental, consort and soloist. Each entry includes biographical information, an image and any relevant You Tube video audio soundbites. The directory is easy to navigate and will be an invaluable resource for the early music community, promoters and agents. ...

"2017 is a significant year for the York Early Music Festival, as the internationally acclaimed 10-day summer festival celebrates its 40th anniversary and announces a new three-year partnership with specialist insurer, Hiscox. ...

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